Chirality as a Feature of the Crystal Structure of Lanthanide Ion Complexes—Some Simple Examples

Abstract

Single-crystal X-ray structure determinations are reported for four lanthanide complexes, [Dy(bipy)2Cl2(OH2)2]Cl.H2O (bipy = 2,2′-bipyridine), 1; [La2(phen)2(O2CCH3)4(NO3)2] (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline), 2; [Lu(terpy)(O2CCH3)3].NaNO3 (terpy = 2,2′;6′,2″-terpyridine) 3; and [Lu(phen)(O2CH)3(OH2)].H2O, 4. Dispersion interactions within the stacked arrays of coordinated aza-aromatic units found in all four complexes appear to be a significant structural influence in the solid state. For complex 1, there are additional interactions beyond dispersion, which suggests that it may be the means whereby the Δ and Λ forms contribute to the overall chiral nature of the crystal. These weak intermolecular interactions were investigated in detail using the Hirshfeld surface analysis.

Keywords

• lanthanide
• chiral
• bipyridine
• phenanthroline
• terpyridine